Top of the Pops BBC4

[Servalan]

500,000 copies sold before Think Twice even reached number one, yet it still managed 7 weeks at the top. Quite some feat.

CBS/Epic were nothing if not persistent back in the day and would stop at nothing to get their acts hits in the singles chart: Dead Or Alive, King, Bruce Springsteen, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, Bros, Deacon Blue and Roachford all benefitted from their strategy.

It was then very much reliant on those acts to keep on delivering for the label – which Celine and Bruce did …

 

[beautyneverlies]

So are we getting the new look Top Of The Pops tonight?

 

[Leo1977]

Really does feel we've started 1995 "proper" with the new set and club bangers like Alex Party. For me this era was peak TOTP.

 

[CDMCLP]

The return of Benidorm's Jake Canuso to Top of the Pops with Annie Lennox.

 

[letuinmybackdoor]

Elsstica will never not be cool AF.

 

[WhatKindOfKylie?]

Kylie hosting that first episode that tight red PVC dress and her iconic Confide In Me hair. 10/10 for that episode alone.

 

[beautyneverlies]

Kylie hosting that first episode that tight red PVC dress and her iconic Confide In Me hair. 10/10 for that episode alone.

Kylie's presenting skills are 10/10. The perfect TOTP presenter.

 

[WhatKindOfKylie?]

Kylie's presenting skills are 10/10. The perfect TOTP presenter.

Exactly, she's truly Queen of everything.

 

[idratherjack]

Good couple of episodes last night, it was nice to finally get away from the velvet drapes and candelabras of the Year Zero revamp with the new studio. Kylie was a brilliant presenter and looked absolutely stunning in the PVC dress. Standout performances were Celine Dion, Annie Lennox and Scarlet. Independent Love Song is one of my favourite songs of the 90s, such a tune. 1995 has well and truly arrived!

 

[WhatKindOfKylie?]

It sure does feel like the mid 90s now with the new them and studio. Year Zero, looked and felt very dated by this point.

 

[Servalan]

Elsstica will never not be cool AF.

Elastica were my pick of the night – Justine looking amazing, and the third in a brilliant trio of singles. It's such a shame the flame burned out so quickly and also that they got accusations of plagiarism slung at them when Oasis were constantly ripping off other songs and getting away with it.

 

[Servalan]

Really does feel we've started 1995 "proper" with the new set and club bangers like Alex Party. For me this era was peak TOTP.

I agree – the show is brilliant in this era and unfortunately never got its mojo back after Ric Blaxill left.

I remember hearing Alex Party's 'Read My Lips' in clubs back then but 'Don't Give Me Your Life' heralds the real arrival of the Visnadi production team in the UK singles chart – with Living Joy soon to follow …

 

[Eric Generic]

Last night....Kylie presenting....Vanessa Mae's performance.....I'll just leave it there!

 

[Servalan]

I can't let those last two editions pass without mentioning MN8 – who I kinda felt sorry for. Although they managed some other hits (obeying the law of diminishing returns …), 'I've Got A Little Something For You' hasn't stood the test of time well and actually feels more like a novelty song – not helped by the crotch grabbing parts of their routine which the TOTP cameras carefully avoided in close-up (unlike when they performed on The Word, prior to this). They were obviously designed to be a British Jodeci (see also the classier Public Demand, signed to ZTT), but the public weren't having it.

I guess we will be soon approaching peak 1st Avenue Management acts' chart domination, with the Honeyz soon to join MN8, Eternal, Michelle Gayle and Dina Carroll. A shame so many of those bubbles started bursting all at once …

 

[heartmightmelt]

Not even a decade later they'd have been lauded for interpreting Wire b-sides in such a bold, thrilling way.

I love their debut album. If they hadn't burned through so many tracks beforehand in that mid-90s indie label early single build up way then it could have had a longer afterlife and it wouldn't have seemed like FOREVER waiting on them writing a follow up.

 

[CDMCLP]

MN8's album is surprisingly decent. But those performances were quite nasty, in the Peter Andre mould of how to be "sexy".

 

[Vasilios]

MN8 were iconic! Three Top 10 hits off an album is nothing to scoff at - plus they were huge around Europe too, something few UK acts managed that time.

 

[heartmightmelt]

I wouldn't be surprised that the industry got cold feet supporting an edgy boy band like MN8 after East 17 began to unravel in the tabloids and I suspect that marketing prejudices about race might have added to it. Much much easier throwing your money behind a nice lovely boyband like that Ronan and Stephen's band, just don't let your nan see the guy with the shaved eyebrow in the background.

 

[WhatKindOfKylie?]

Must admit, I never have liked No More I Love You's.... Glad it was another big hit for Annie though all the same.

 

[letuinmybackdoor]

Must admit, I never have liked No More I Love You's.... Glad it was another big hit for Annie though all the same.

I absolutely loathed it. Capital FM seemed to play it at least every hour if not more and it was always on Capital where I worked. As soon as I heard the 'doo be doo be..' bits I was 'aggggh'.